Those seeking Old Havana's ramshackle, colonial ambiance should book a suite at boho-chic Casa Vitrales, where owner Osmani Hernández has filled three airy floors with striking Deco pieces and Murano glass chandeliers. Portería, with four plush guest rooms and museum-worthy pieces, is owned by a prominent Havana antique dealer. The 11 rooms blend vintage styles with eye-popping art. La Reservais yet another treasure, located in a gracefully renovated neoclassical mansion by a trio of local architects. Bigelow and Hermès toiletries in the Carrara marble-clad bathrooms could compete with any boutique hotel in Miami. At the 10-room Paseo 206, housed in a 1930s mansion on tree-flanked Avenida Paseo, the polished service, sleek decor, and C.O. Instead, stay at casas particulares, affordable B&Bs bursting with personality and increasingly featuring the most fervently desired amenity: Wi-Fi. Staying at a state-run hotel in Havana often means paying robber-baron prices for boxy, charmless rooms. Order many plates of frituras (fritters) to dunk into the mouth-watering chunky house salsa of guavas and chiles. Sexier than Imperatori's pioneering O'Reilly 304across the street, EDF takes an equally irreverent approach to mixology with fantastically decorated rum drinks served in glass jars (previously containers for imported Spanish potatoes) and outré gin and tonics that resemble mini aquariums. Here, in the dim glow of Edison bulbs, artist José Carlos Imperatori presides over a posse of models, musicians, and visiting DJs. Or follow El Cocinero's owners to El del Frente in Old Havana.
After, pick up the rum trail at one of the bars inside the adjacent Fábrica de Arte Cubano (one of the most exciting art spaces in the Americas, if you ask me). Settle into a faux-Panton chair (knocked off by local artisans) and order cheesy fried empanadillas and mini gratins of boniato and crab to ballast the icy cocktails.
In 2014, when the owners borrowed money to open a place in an abandoned cooking oil factory, they didn't expect to be turning away thirsty revelers without reservations - or to host Michelle Obama. Come dusk, the young local cocktail farándula (clique) gathers on the roof terrace of übercool El Cocinero. You may miss fresh yogurt and wince at the outrageous prices of imported beef, but one fine thing we can promise: You'll never go thirsty in Havana - not with the oceans of mojitos and daiquiris, and the really good, really cheap, and really aged rum sold even at gas stations.
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